Standing rules proposals

[Lüc da Schir]

Fellow members of the Rules committee Gödafrïeu Válcadác’h and Sir C. M. Siervicül , and other Senators at-large, now that the committee is properly seated and assembled, I wish to present to you my proposals for ten Standing Rules to be adopted by the Senate:

rules_draft.pdf (208.94 KB) Latest updated version

My intent is to publish the proposals, as I have done, and review the rules one by one before the Committee so that we can have a proper process of auditing and proofing; if any section is deemed redundant or insufficient I am happy to adopt any suggestions.

I wish to remind everyone that Lex.H.21 allows any Senator to pitch in in the works of the Committee, and I would welcome any such contributions.

I will shortly begin with Rule 1 (Terms) and explain my reasoning on each point of that.

[Lüc da Schir]

Rule 1 | Terms
1. Each new term of the Senate shall commence upon the publication by the Chancery and/or the respective provincial conducting officers of final results for all of the seats up for elections, or the beginning of a First Clark, whichever comes first.
2. Senators of the previous Senate who did not seek or lost reelection shall re-main into office until the beginning of the next term.

This rule is needed to codify the beginning and the end of a Senator's term for the purpose of record keeping and clarity - plus, in the event that emergency motions have to be voted on between an election and a first Clark, we want to be sure about who is entitled to vote on them. Note that the first paragraph uses language already present in Lex.H.21.

Pursuant to Lex.H.21.4, I am moving this rule draft for due debate before the Committee.

[Lüc da Schir]

Any comment on Rule 1? Otherwise, I will be moving the proposal for a committee vote early next week.

[Lüc da Schir]

Unless there are any additional comments, I move the committee send the following rule proposal for a vote before the full Senate:

Rule 1 | Terms
1. Each new term of the Senate shall commence upon the publication by the Chancery and/or the respective provincial conducting officers of final results for all of the seats up for elections, or the beginning of a First Clark, whichever comes first.
2. Senators of the previous Senate who did not seek or lost reelection shall re-main into office until the beginning of the next term.

I vote Për. Gödafrïeu Válcadác’h Sir C. M. Siervicül

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

Under this proposal, wouldn't each senator's term potentially start on a different date (especially if more provinces conduct senatorial elections on their own)? It seems that there wouldn't be any such thing as a "term of the Senate, just terms of individual senators.

[Lüc da Schir]

My intention was to have a Senate term begin as soon as all of the Senators are elected and seated (...of final results for all of the seats up for elections...) If it can be worded better so that the intent is clearer, I have no qualms with changing it.

Edit: or rather, if the term "term" is the problem (suggesting that the Senate for the Nth Cosa "term" is the same as a Senator's "term"), perhaps that can be replaced with "session" or a similar, uh, term.

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

Oct 1, 2018 13:09:43 GMT -6 Lüc da Schir said:

My intention was to have a Senate term begin as soon as all of the Senators are elected and seated (...of final results for all of the seats up for elections...) If it can be worded better so that the intent is clearer, I have no qualms with changing it.

Hmm. I guess the "for all of the seats" language does address my concern. I don't really like "session" better tha. "term." The proposed language seems adequate to me.

[Lüc da Schir]

Alright, so if the original language is fine I propose we resume the vote. My Për stands. Gödafrïeu Válcadác’h Sir C. M. Siervicül

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

Per.

[Lüc da Schir]

A majority of the committee being in favour, the proposal will be sent to the floor for adoption.

I would now like to move to Rule 2, where I need more feedback and will likely amend the rule further before we vote. I need to notify the committee that the proposal has changed in respect to the one in the initial PDF.

Rule 2 | Lord President (Mençei)
1. At the beginning of each new term, and whenever the position is vacant, the Senate shall choose a Lord President (Mençei) from among its members to perform the duties of the Chair.
2. Pending the election of a Mençei, and in any absence of an elected Mençei, the Dean of the Senate shall perform the duties of the Chair as Acting Mençei. Should the Dean of the Senate be absent, seniority will be followed to select a re-placement. “Absence” shall be defined a Senator’s failure to act on any particular item under consideration after three days.
3. The Acting Mençei shall allow for nominations to be lodged for a period of at least a week from the beginning of a term. Should a Senator receive nominations from a majority of Senators, the nomination period shall end and the Senator be considered duly elected; otherwise, a ballot shall be held using Instant Runoff Voting. Seniority shall resolve any ties that may occur during any stage of elimination.
4. The Mençei shall have the right to name a Senator to perform the duties of the Chair as Acting Mençei, should he or she be absent for a protracted period of time, and to name a Senator to represent him in any particular function he or she may hold by right of law.

Pursuant to Lex.H.21.4, I am moving this rule draft for due debate before the Committee.

[Lüc da Schir]

Notes about the proposal:
1) I am open to "absence" being redefined. I really had no better ideas for defining when and what to do when someone is a no-show.
2) Tenure and seniority, as mentioned in this rule, are defined in another rule proposal (number 4 in the PDF).

3) Most importantly, I wanted to write a fifth paragraph to enumerate the Mençei's powers, but I wanted feedback on that from other Senators. Do we wish the Mençei had "discretionary powers", enumerating perhaps a few (opening and closing debate on bills and motions, for example), and leaving in a clause to provide for overruling the chair to deal with the rest?

Paging my colleagues, should anyone have any better ideas or opinions they may wish to share. Sevastáin Pinátsch Alèx Soleighlfred Hooligan Sir C. M. Siervicül Ian Plätschisch Gödafrïeu Válcadác’h Trotxâ

[Trotxâ]

Could you explain your thinking about having three days as the minimum period?

T

[Lüc da Schir]

I simply thought it would be a good compromise between moving quickly on procedural stuff (e.g. opening/closing a vote) and recognising that not everyone can visit Wittenberg every day. Most of what that provision is intended to cover is minor stuff that could be done by anyone, and could be overruled by the full Senate anyway (e.g. the eligibility rulings in Rule 3, see PDF)

[Lüc da Schir]

I thought about how to move forwards on this and here's my updated proposal:

Rule 2 | Lord President (Mençei)
1. At the beginning of each new term, and whenever the position is vacant, the Senate shall choose a Lord President (Mençei) from among its members to perform the duties of the Chair.
2. Pending the election of a Mençei, the Dean of the Senate shall perform the duties of the Chair as Acting Mençei. Should the Dean of the Senate be absent or unwilling, seniority will be followed to select a replacement.
3. The Acting Mençei shall allow for nominations to be lodged for a period of at least a week from the beginning of a term. Should a Senator receive nominations from a majority of Senators, the nomination period shall end and the Senator be considered duly elected; otherwise, a ballot shall be held using Instant Runoff Voting. Seniority shall resolve any ties that may occur during any stage of elimination.
4. The Mençei shall have the right to name a Senator to perform the duties of the Chair as Deputy Mençei, should he or she be absent for a protracted period of time, and to name a Senator to represent him in any particular function he or she may hold by right of law.
5. Should the Mençei be absent without having named a replacement, the Senate shall be empowered to select a Senator to perform the duties of the Chair as Deputy Mençei, until such a time as the Mençei returns to the floor.

I returned 2. to its "original" state and purpose, which was exclusively to deal with the chair being vacant; so 1., 2. and 3. are now exclusively about electing a Mençei.

Paragraphs 4. and 5. are instead about absence of an elected Mençei. I nuked the "absence" clause in 2. and added the whole new 5., so that the Senate can decide on its own best judgement if it's the case to appoint a Deputy in case the Mençei is absent without a replacement.

Thoughts? For the sake of having a full Senate floor vote on the first two rule proposals along with the November Clark, I'd like to get debate and Committee vote done before the end of next week.

[Lüc da Schir]

I'd like to notify Committee members Sir C. M. Siervicül and Gödafrïeu Válcadác’h that I intend to move the proposal for a vote in a couple of days, in case there's any additional feedback.